March Board of Ed: Michelle Ryan, Randolph High social studies teacher

Michelle Ryan, the 2015 Milken Educator Award winner
theme of equity
role of history in pursing equity for all students
qualifying conviction
"desperately critical sole purpose" to ensure all students move to excel

everything teachers do allow students to take one step forward or move them one step backwards
lasso our energy and talents to produce high quality educational system to benefit all students
examine various perspectives
consider questions like what is the role of government? what is equality? how is the struggle against inequality to be waged? who are the winners and losers in history?
maintaining standards for all students while providing access
"We have to be as much the critical thinkers as we require our students to be"
Why does inequality still exist within our schools?
What role do we play in it continuing?
How much are we willing to toil to overcome these achievement barriers?
face the discomfort of engaging in difficult conversations
revision of history standards, hope will maintain and expand the inclusion
encourage magnification of social justice as a critical component of history
students may one day look back at the changes we've made
"education nurtures life, or at least it's supposed to"
"let's give them the tools and skills" to succeed
"this is our call, and this is love in action"

to Sagan's Q on civics: civics in general is getting people to get involved in government
"we have to ensure that that is happening in all classrooms"
would love to see that expanding at all levels and embed that at all levels
Sagan: how do you think about assessing it?
Ryan: there's a lot of history to cover, adding something to the frameworks is a challenge
warrants a discussion of how we can embed critical question to ensure that we meet the demand
make sure teachers understand it's a minimum effort (on standards)
McKenna: it's time to have students understand that there are three branches of government "because apparently some people in power don't understand that"